There was no bigger tally in the primary elections in May, at least as far as Lafayette schools were concerned, than the scoreboard of school referendums in Indiana.

As Lafayette School Corp. prepares the ground for a likely referendum still a few years away, school districts went 9-and-1 on referendums, looking to raise anywhere from $260,000 to $40 million for general operations or construction projects.

And things are looking better for districts that line up their messages and show the community what cash is needed, how it will be spent and why school administrators should be trusted.

“A school corporation ready to do the legwork,” said Larry DeBoer, a Purdue University economist who has tracked recent school referendums in Indiana, “is in a much better position, it would seem, than they were just a few years ago. … But only if they do their legwork.”

For LSC, that attempt to win buy-in started in April with the creation of what’s being called Task Force VI, a group of more than 70 business owners, parents, teachers and other community members who fill the Hiatt Administration Center conference room when they meet. (Task Force V finished in 2004 with recommendations to close four elementary schools.)

Since April, the task force has been asked to weigh what the district should do to deal with the recent increase in births in Lafayette and the numbers of elementary students that promises.

Task force members also are combing through a 2014 facility audit of Jefferson High School that says the campus, closing out its 45th year, is in line for up to $54 million in repairs and improvements. LSC’s idea is to get those done by Lafayette Jeff’s 50th anniversary.

“This could be nudged from the top,” John Layton, LSC assistant superintendent, recently told task force members. “But this is a grassroots thing. We need you to tell us about the changes that make sense.”

Since 2008, Indiana law has set up a process for two types of referendums. The first covers general fund requests, giving schools a chance to raise additional money for operations. West Lafayette won one of these in 2010, after blanketing the community in red shirts and a parent-driven campaign that made the case for $25.9 million in additional tax money over seven years. Voters approved the tax increase by a 66-34 margin.

The second sort of referendum allows voters who object to proposed, large construction projects — at least $10 million for elementary schools or more than $20 million for high schools — to force a ballot question. That replaced Indiana’s old remonstrance process on construction projects, which included trying to collect the most signatures on dueling petitions and tended to favor school districts.

Layton said LSC “might be able to escape a referendum on the elementary issue by keeping the cost of the solution as low as practical.” He said the district is simply assuming the Lafayette Jeff work will require a referendum.

“We’ve known Jeff was coming for a long time,” said Les Huddle, LSC superintendent.

His predecessor, Ed Eiler, more than a decade ago started signaling that a major renovation should be timed for the 50th anniversary of the current Lafayette Jeff. Bonds for other projects — including work at Earhart, Vinton, Miller and Miami elementaries, along with Tecumseh Jr. High — were timed to fall off about that time, giving LSC room to do work at Jeff without major increases in the tax rate.

As laid out for the task force, the proposed needs to Jeff include work to the roof, heating and air conditioning systems, plumbing and other maintenance and upgrades. The audit also looked into the costs of adding a “freshman center” — which would put ninth-graders into their own self-contained facility — and designing areas for more career and technical education. What Task Force VI will sign off on is a work in progress.

The timing, though, might be working out better than LSC might have anticipated a decade ago, if trends in referendums are any indication.

Things have been improving, going schools’ way more often since May 2011. DeBoer chalks that up to several reasons, including:

• An improved economy. “In the depths of the recession, even for those who were most inclined to favor funding public education, it’s pretty easy to say, ‘More spending on education — but not now,’” DeBoer said. “As the recession fades from memory — though the recovery hasn’t been all that robust — that takes that excuse away.”

• Superintendents and school boards have become more sophisticated in their approaches. “Early on, they were in kind of remonstrance mode, the way it used to be. You put it out there; maybe the opponents show up, maybe they don’t,” DeBoer said.

“When all people have to do is show up at the polls, you can get all kinds of ‘no’ votes. I think people found that out after a few cycles that you have to run this like a campaign. So now there are consultants all over the place and campaign managers. And, of course, superintendents talk to each other — a lot — about this stuff. So they learn what works and what doesn’t.”

• School boards also know when to play their cards. “Schools have the initiative, and they can decide when to go forward or not, and how big the tax rates will be and that sort of thing,” DeBoer said. “The opponents don’t have anything like that sort of organization. So as we move forward, both sides gain expertise, but the superintendents definitely hold an advantage.”

Even then, a school referendum isn’t a sure bet.

“I’ve been running these statistical things and everything, but I can’t predict. I tried the first few times and would circulate the prediction among a number of people, and basically I did as well as you could do if you flipped a coin,” DeBoer said. “So you can see tendencies, but there’s so much unexplained. And I’ll just bet you that stuff that you just can’t measure — the campaign effort, the expertise, how much both sides spend, how popular is the superintendent, stuff like that — probably matters quite a bit.”

In other words, start making your case early.

LSC’s Task Force VI meets through July. Recommendations for the elementaries and Lafayette Jeff will follow.

“We are certainly trying to explain the need in the most transparent way possible,” Layton said. “And, yes, we were watching those other districts.”